Thanks for the compliments guys. To answer your questions:

The main polygons are done with 1mm plasticard. I prefer this because it's thick enough to be rigid but thin enough to score and snap. The details are done with 0.5 mm plasticard.

I use a ruler to make straight edges. Seems pretty straight forward! You have to push down on the ruler firmly to make sure the plastic and pattern do not slip but it makes your edges near perfect.

The rivets and circles are done with a leather punch. They're about $10-15 and have multiple sizes to punch out. It's super easy and the first time I've used one. I wish I'd purchased it before. Paired with the tamiya brush cement you can do them so quickly.

I finished one side of tracks. I still have to add a sponson and add some putty to the half round 'thing' on the front-side of IG tanks to round it off.





Next up is the other side and I am going to try out 'bondo' to crack fill the sponson. I will just have to be careful with the vapour and sanding dust.

Wow. If not for a few minor details (ladder on the wrong side, rivets too big, etc) I'd think that was the "real" Macharius model.



Also, I have the "real" model if you need any reference pictures, just let me know what views you need.

Ha ha ha I assumed that there was a ladder on both sides! Oops. I honestly looked at the forgeworld model first but just made that assumption.

Yeah the rivets are actually huge sadly, but that is the smallest hole in the whole punch. Thanks for the offer on the photos. I'll keep that in mind if I need any shots of the upper body and turret for something I can glimpse off of the forgeworld site.

Anything else on the model that is only on one side that I may miss?

On the sides of the model, there's only one thing other than the ladder: on the bit above the back of the tracks, there's a round exhaust thingy (so someone on another forum said) on the side without the ladder, but on the other side there's just four corner pegs for a storage rack or something.

On the main hull, besides the obvious asymmetry of the driver and TL heavy stubbers, I should note that the diagonal sections on either side of the turret are NOT the same on both sides. It is somewhat visible in the FW pictures, but this is a significant difference in shape.

The turret is obviously not symmetrical.

The back engine compartment is offset slightly to the left (looking from the back) to make room for the connection to the auxiliary fuel tanks (obviously only on one side), and the various details on it are not symmetrical. For reference there, the left exhaust pipe is pretty much on the centerline of the vehicle.


I think that about covers it.

After inhaling too much glue (they do say well ventilated for a reason) my head hurts and my nose burns. The big problem is that the sides needed too much glue to attach well to the main hull. I've started gluing under the range hood on the stove so that should help a bit.

So all warnings aside here is the current progress:




You can see that I've completed both track sides (technical term anyone?) and attached them to the main hull. I am holding off on the main detailing of the hull until I crack fill all of those glaring holes at a later date. Right now I was just trying to crack out the polygons. They seem to take the most time actually and I've come to the conclusion that I prefer the small details instead of the big shapes; those are somehow actually more tedious. Next up will be finishing off the rear end of the hull with the overhanging turret mount that hangs over the rear tracks.

I also have to do some surgery to scavenge track bits from further back on the tank. I had thought they would be covered by the hull more near the front but now they're just out in the open and I will have to swap them for some of the ones that will be covered later.

Two things I should point out:


1) The tracks shouldn't be wider than the hull. You'll probably notice this when you try to make the driver's section fit, the tracks as you have them now will end up inside the hull. This should easily be fixed by adding another layer or two of card on the inside of the track sections, which will also let you get the details on those surfaces.


2) The diameter of the hull-mount for the TL heavy stubbers should be larger, and fit behind that cover thingy. Right now it looks a bit odd, and it leaves some really vulnerable gaps in the armor. Picture of what I mean:

Peregrine: Thanks for the review. I will cut off the inside edges of the track pieces overhanging the hull. It does look odd. I sort of like the outside bit overhanging though for a ramshackle look but I may cut that off too. Thoughts? I suppose it doesn't fit the IG though. I did actually have to trim half of the rear tracks to fit it together last night, but I was in a rush and didn't do all of them. I really wanted to see the bulk of the model without ado.

As for the hull mount - just because of the way the model is built, I don't think I can recess the actual stubbers any more than they are. I can however break off the plates where you see the gap and move them forward to encapsulate the gun mount more. Do you think this would be sufficient? Or maybe I can rework it and try to recess it more like you've pictured.

The outside should be fine. The only problem with the inside overhang is that you end up with the edges of the tracks intersecting the hull, since it's designed to fit together with non-overhanging tracks without leaving any gap. Visually it looks just fine, it's just probably easier to trim the inside of the tracks a bit than it would be to re-design the hull shape so that there's room for the overhanging tracks.



I think that would probably work. The main issue, IMO, is that there's a visible gap between the gun mount and the hull, something you really don't want on your frontal armor. I think it would look best with a larger-diameter mount like on the "real" model if you can find a way to make it work, but the alternative would probably work alright. Just move them both forward and inward so that they actually cover the front of the gun mount without leaving any gaps.

I suppose I should point out that any gaps will get filled at a later point anyway - TheAmbit

Spent some more time on this (a few hours a day) and finally felt an update was in order. I tried out bondo on the cracks. I won't be doing that again. It actually works really well and fast but it's -10C outside here and I'm terrified of using it indoors after reading the warning label. Any spots on the model that require a second lift will be done in GS once my order arrives.

I have yet to fill in the hull mounted gaps around the heavy stubbers but I did adjust the armour plating. Does that seem better Peregrine? Once I get some GS I will finish off the driver's hull area and the stubber.

The engine mount is currently drying before I attach it but the rest of the hull should be fairly near complete. Just a few odds and ends to put on it.





Peregrine: Could you PM me a photo or two of the rear engine compartment? I want to get a good view of all little bits on the back and top of it.

I've finished the hull of the Macharius and willl begin on the turret shortly. I'm going to try to get it all done before my next project arrives in the mail.

Maybe over Christmas I should finish the 20 man IG squad staring at me. . . The inlaws seem so judging of my toys though. . .

Anyway pictures!

The whole hull:


Finished stubber hull mount and drivers area:


Rear view:


Engine compartment hunderside:


I took some creative liberties with the engine so that I could use a couple of bits I had lying around. There's only one main exhaust stack but I think it looks quite fitting and not orky at all for an ork weapon.

Sent, though I guess it might be a bit late now.





As for the latest update, it's looking pretty good. There's some things that aren't quite accurate (as you'll see from the pictures I sent you), but it's pretty close and it might be hard to do better with the materials you have to work with.

Thanks I appreciate it the pictures. I think I'll try to find something to look like a tool or stick or whatever the rod is under the rear door. Yeah the worst thing to replicate it the hull mount due to the 2 planes it can rotate on on the real model.

I'm also not sure I could do any justice to the mud flaps. The little 4 piston engine inside is pretty cool on your tank though. The one thing I would have attempted if I knew better was the gas tank fuel line running to the engine but I guess mine is more protected and internal

Thanks again Peregrine I appreciate the effort. I hope my paint job is as cool.

Hey Theambit!

Regardless of how accurate the reproduction is, all I can say is great work!!! The fact that you put that much time and effort into it means it get's a 10/10 in my books .

Now, you said you used 'bondo' on some of the cracks; how well did it adhere to the plasticard? (I'm thinking of trying it out. Considering the consistency of bondo compared to greestuff, it seems that it would give you a smoother finish right off the bat. Not to mention it's cheaper )

Can't wait to see the finished & painted model.

- Null

Actually, it can't. You have a bit of flexibility in how you glue it together, but it's still just a fixed angle. The guns just glue onto a solid disk-shaped part with some details that look like they would allow vertical rotation. The only movement is in the horizontal plane, the same (I assume) your model allows.

The bondo seemed to adhere to the plastic fine. No better or worse than greenstuff. It's softer to work with so you can push it into seems way easier. It is also easier to 'overband' so that you don't have to do two lifts. As for smooth... I always sand/file/cut any crack filling I do. I don't think you'll ever have crack filling that doesn't need this since it will either shrink slightly and need a second lift or will be overbanded and need smoothing.

The Bondo dries hard though and somewhat brittle. A few spots cracked where the plastic had some movement and I had to fill these areas with green stuff which in my experience has some give to it.

For filling large gaps I think it is great and cheap but I won't be using it anymore. The health risk warnings scare me and it is brittle and has to be done outside. The finish is smooth though with some sanding although I fear with playable models it might crack over time.

Check out www.maelstromgames.co.uk which offers free international shipping and ridiculous prices on GF9 greenstuff. I bought two giant tubes of the stuff for like 7 pounds I believe which contains something like 10 times the amount you get for a comparable price from GW.

I took an evening to paint for the first time in a month or two I think - after playing 2 games this week.

I must say that the psyker battle squad is so awesome of a unit and idea. A unit that can truely alter the leadership of enemy units effectively and at range. Maybe something like that exists but I have yet to see it from another codex. I've used this unit in the last handful of games I've played and I have yet to be disapointed. They do not so much make back their points but they save my other units from so many charges and shots. I realize they can shoot a blast but I always save the squad until last to fire and their moral ability is just so much more effective than a few kills. Again, I love this unit for the tactical variation it introduces to 40k.

Anyway I thought I should finally give them a nice ride.


Chimera assigned to <Classified> Psyker Battle Squad

The rest of the vehicles in the army will still end up beige but the psyker's chimera should stand out especially with the innate fear of psychic abilities in the Imperium.

I tried out some blending on the windows. For a first attempt I think it worked and I will definitely be trying it out on lenses in the future.

Happy New Year and a late Merry Christmas to everyone.

I was busy during my two week holidays but managed to bring 20 guardsman and 10 assault marines from my Blood Angels along with me and worked on them a bit each day. It was really good to finish both of these up as the guardsmen were boring and the assault marines have been neglected for about six months. I really needed to get these out of the way so I could commit myself fully to the Space Wolf Madness that would arrive in my mail box after the holidays and shortly after.

First up we have the two 5 man assault squads that I tote around in razorbacks and rhinos. These were put together using a death company box set and a regular marine troop kit. It allowed for more models with blood angel iconography and didn't go over the top with it (looks good on death company but not on the run of the mill dudes in my opinion).

I also painted these guys to a better standard (I hope) than I was capable of when I painted my original marines. Because of this and the lack of use of most of the red infantry I had - I have sold of a large portion of them and reinvested it into the Space Wolves.


Assault Squad 1


Assault Squad 2


Details on the marines include a new technique I'm trying out for parchments and scrolls. I drop a dab of water from my brush onto my table, then pick up a small bit of chaos black and then run it through the water dab so that it is quite watery (you would need to practice this). With the VERY watered down black paint I scrible across the surface to give wavy lines that just barely transfer paint. You can see the effect above. I also tried out a lot of glow effect (blurry in the plasma shot - sorry) and a good shot of the new lense technique I am trying on the Marine eyes.

I have to appologize for the colour balance on these pictures - it gets dark here around 4 pm at the moment so the indoor shots and my camera don't work well together.

Oh comparison to old style painting:


On to the guardsmen. I should have about 30 now once I toss in some heavy weapons and will try out a 30 man blob squad with a commisar and Colonel Straken tomorrow. Should be interesting!



The sword effect was used on the space marines as well as the sergeant in the IG squad. I know power weapons should be blue but the green just looks so much better and stands out. Painting the eyes on 20 of these guys hurt my eyes...

The macharius turret is about 30% done and wasn't completed in time for the holidays sadly and will probably back burner to my space wolves - but don't fear I will get it done.

Headway!



I have a game coming up Saturday and I believe a friend may need an extra few hundred points so I was motivated to start finishing this model. It was so close to the end when I stopped I really shouldn't have. A few more touchups (hinges on the armour over the barrels) and some barrel vents at the muzzle and this bad boy will be pretty well done. I'm not super happy with the barrels but for all of the effort put into the tank, I can't seem to have better ideas. They'll probably look fine once the tank is painted anyway. I'm going to forgo the searchlight on the left side and just use that as an area for a decal I think.

I LOVE the way you converted your Chimeras.

They look more like a light tank than a transport.

A very original conversion. A pity I will never use Chimeras (I play Krieg )